15th Anniversary

Last week, on 1/19, Mark and I celebrated our fifteenth anniversary.  It’s hard to believe that many years have passed since we got married that snowy evening in 2002.  We celebrated that evening with a great dinner of filet, scallops, and a wine from the year we were married that we actually got on an anniversary trip we took a long time ago. We polished dinner off with a red wine chocolate cake with amaretto whipped cream.  Not a bad dinner for a weeknight!  :)

   

 

Our real anniversary celebration came on Saturday.  We planned a day date (thanks to Mousey’s help in watching the girls) to hike Raven’s Rock, then a stop off at Dirt Farm Brewing, followed by dinner out.  The weather was supposed to be relatively warm for January, which was good, however it was super foggy.  It actually made for some cool sights while hiking closer to the summit of Raven’s Rock. 

   

The hike was fairly challenging, but we loved it and Cayenne was also very happy to be along.  Once we reached the top, you’re supposed to have an amazing view, however once we got to the top, all you could see was a sea of fog.  It was kind of creepy and cool at the same time.  You know the rocks drop off and there’s a vast landscape below, but we literaly couldn’t see anything past several feet of the rocks.

We planned to eat lunch at the top of the hike, but we had to eat pretty quickly because it was quite cold and windy at the top, but we refuled then headed back down the trail.

  

  

Nina saw this picture of the twisted tree and thought it looked like the head of a dragon.  I loved her creativity, and now when I look at it, all I can see is dragon! 

After the hike we popped over to Dirt Farm Brewery which was right down the road from our hiking location.  Then after a refreshing sample taster of some of their brews, we headed back home to get cleaned up for dinner.

We finished our date day with a Mediterranean dinner at Neyla.  It was a new place for us, and we loved it!  We had such a great meal, and it was the perfect way to cap off an awesome day celebrating our anniversary.  Thanks again to Mousey for watching the girls for us all day.  That was really a treat and my type of way to celebrate an anniversary!

  

What Would You Do for a Candy Bar?

It’s no secret that the Simpsons like their sweets.  All of us.  It’s also no secret that the girls hit the candy jackpot on Halloween.  One of the things they got was a full sized 3 Musketeers bar.  Nina asked the other night to eat it, and I told her that we’d probably split it up and she could eat it 1/2 at a time.  She really wanted to eat the whole thing at once, so I half jokingly said, “sure, if you can run two miles,” and she took me seriously.   So…the next day after school, Nina and Lyla went to the track behind their school and ran two miles.  

I tallied off their laps with my clipboard (yes, I was working very hard), and after dinner they earned their full sized candy bar!!  Since that afternoon, they decided they wanted to run two miles at least once a week.  Last week they went back out and did it again and this week they plan to do it tomorrow.  While they’re not getting candy bars each time, I’m glad that they’re doing it now to be healthy and keep active over the winter!

  

Speaking of being active, the family has joined me in practicing for one of the poses I needed to do for the newest Body Flow release that I had to teach.  The pose is called Crow Pose, and it’s mostly a pose that challenges balance but it does take arm strength as well.  I was the one who had the hardest time finding how to balance on my hands without tipping forward or back.  Nina said she thought it was pretty easy, and that makes sense for her since she’s great at handstands.  Lyla and Mark didn’t seem to have much of a problem with it either.  Unfortunately, they weren’t the ones that needed to do it in front of a class, but finally I found my balance, and I was one happy bird!

 

 

Winter Break

Christmas came and went in a flash. It’s always a bit of a bummer once Christmas is done.  There is so much going on from the time school starts until Christmas, then everything kind of slows down for the more uneventful months of January and February.  The girls had the week between Christmas and New Years off from school, so we decided to get in a little fun around here.  We went bowling one day, tried out Top Golf another day, and the girls got their first crack at climbing a 30-foot rock wall at a place we went indoor swimming, did a little shopping, spent some time with friends, and generally just hung around.  The photos were all taken with my phone camera, so they aren’t the greatest.

 

While Mark had been to Top Golf before, this was the girls and my first experience there.  It’s a cool concept and we definitely had a fun time there, but it’s a pricey way to spend and hour or two (if you’re going in the evening), but fun nonetheless.

   

Nina and Lyla both took on the challenge of climbing a 30-ft rock wall.  We were at a location where they could do both the rock wall and indoor swimming, so we decided to do the rock wall first before they got too wet and tired.  They both made it to the top!

 

   

 

Of course we visited our favorites of Chick Fil-A and Sweet Frog over the break, and Cayenne got plenty of snuggle time and attention with the girls home.

  

We celebrated the end of 2016 with Mark’s homemade sushi for dinner then we went to a friend’s house for the rest of the evening.  Cayenne and I were the only two still awake when it officially turned 2017, so I’m sure you can guess the type of new year kiss I got! 

  

The kids went back to school on Tuesday, the Christmas decorations are down, and we’re getting back into the routine again.  It was a fun holiday season while it lasted, but all good things (extra food, wine, cookies, activities, late nights) must get reeled back in at some point, so happy 2017 and here’s hoping it’s sunny and 80’s by March 1st!